The (Crazy) Bear is Back

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Mike Channin
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by Mike Channin »

OK. so I'm now 1 HM into the second CB.

(I had a skim through the original thread and discovered I'd done 2022's version as continuous too, so I've now clocked 3 of them!)
I'm way behind my distance from last year at this point (and no hope of getting the PB for distance in a month), but maybe I have been pacing better and also mixing in more higher pressure as a consequence of the CTC 5k and Ian's excellent PB, so bizarrely, I find myself on the threshold of SB for several other pieces. I guess the longer ones are the easiest to fit into the HM a day pattern, although they're also among the tougher SBs (with my HM SB probably my 'best' overall, and well out of range still). I really need to get a ranked 2k, but this doesn't feel like a nice one to combine with daily HMs either. And the Feb 300m CTC is at the opposite end of the spectrum completely (and the main aim will be to not damage my back).
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by Mike Channin »

The January version of the Crazy Bear is sort of my fault. Maybe I should call it the JCB?
One year I will manage to do the official one in Nov/Dec.

3 down so far, so 1/10th of CB#2... Managed an unexpected SB for the HM yesterday - was following my progression of gradually longer starts at 2:00, to extend the sequence of 5k, 7k, 12k. Had done a pretty tough 5k SB on Thursday, but the Friday session seemed to show that I was well recovered and had maybe even stepped up a level in performance.

HM target this time was 15k @ 2:00, with a stretch to 17k with the ultimate aim of getting all the way through to the end @ ~2:00. (Why 17k? I tend to find getting to 80% is a good pace test/prep for trying a full out session next time around).
Pace boat was set on 2:00.

Anyway, set off and found that the power was coming easily, although the rate settled at 26 which is quite high to sustain for HM. Was trying to stay nice and relaxed, rowing mostly without looking, and keeping an eye on the HR response, which was looking positive early on.
5k came, and the HR was 157, rate 26, 13m up on the pace boat. Keep going...
At 6k down, I figured out that theoretically I could make the end, but was trying to not get ahead of myself, as there was a long way to go, and you never quite know when it will catch up with you...
10k came up, HR now touching 160, rate 26, 14m up on the pace boat (so very steady constant pace). Just starting to feel it.
Just after this, I started to have to put a bit more effort in to hold the pace, so I upped the rate slightly, to more like 27, and this did the trick. (Usually high rating doesn't suit me on long stuff, but for some reason (maybe all the recent volume) it seems to be working better at the moment.
15k first target came up, and definitely having to concentrate harder on keeping on split. Keep going. 18m up on target.
Cruised at bit to 16k while rowing without looking and trying to decide if I was going to go for it. Saw I'd dropped slightly off pace and the pace boat had made 4 meters back.
By 17k I was sure I could finish, and realised that I was not going to give up the chance to SB, which needed a bit more push as it needed ~1:59.6 and I was on 1:59.8 Av.
Watched the pacing a bit more and gradually easy back to 18m ahead by coming up to 18k. Pushed the pace up a bit more to make every stroke 1:59 and saw the estimated finish now roughly in line with the 1:24:07 previous SB.
Could feel the pace increase was that bit tougher. Started counting strokes before a 2:00 came up. 30 initially, but then had a wobble and hit a sequence of 4-5s. Upped the rating again, now 28s, and this seemed to do the trick. ~3300 to go, and counting strokes to see how far before another 2:00 showed. This got me all the way to 20k, and still not a single 2:00, with the split actually coming down gradually as the end got closer. Into the last 21k and now showing more like 1:24:03. Realised I'd left the pace boat behind - it was off the screen and over 70m back.
Upped rate again, and opened up more, and watched the numbers drop 1:57s, 1:56s, 1:55s. Now trying to figure out how brave I was for the finish. Upped pace again as it came under 500. 1:53, 1:52.
Last 250 so upped again into the high 1:40s, last 100 coming up, so opened up fully, and saw 1:39, 1:37, 1:36s. Under 50 so last push, upped rate a bit more and saw 1:34, 1:33, 1:32 through a haze.
And then it was over and I got to check the time.
First thing I saw was that I'd ended up 131m UP on the pace boat.
Time was 1:23:51.7, so I had the SB by a chunk.

Was pretty tired, but I know I've felt far worse after sessions, so I suspect I still left something in reserve, but was very pleased to have beaten what was probably already my best SB, especially when I know I didn't have anything like this form last week.
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by Mike Channin »

Raw Splits:
1:23:51.7 21,097m 1:59.2 206 1010 26 161
3:59.5 1,000m 1:59.7 204 1001 25 148
3:59.4 2,000m 1:59.7 204 1002 25 152
3:59.1 3,000m 1:59.5 205 1004 26 155
3:59.0 4,000m 1:59.5 205 1005 26 156
3:59.7 5,000m 1:59.8 203 999 26 157
4:00.0 6,000m 2:00.0 203 997 26 159
4:00.0 7,000m 2:00.0 203 997 26 158
4:00.0 8,000m 2:00.0 203 997 26 159
3:59.9 9,000m 1:59.9 203 997 26 159
4:00.1 10,000m 2:00.0 202 996 26 160
3:59.6 11,000m 1:59.8 204 1000 26 162
3:59.7 12,000m 1:59.8 203 999 26 161
3:59.7 13,000m 1:59.8 203 999 26 163
3:59.7 14,000m 1:59.8 203 999 27 164
4:00.1 15,000m 2:00.0 202 996 26 163
4:01.1 16,000m 2:00.5 200 987 27 162
3:59.6 17,000m 1:59.8 204 1000 27 164
3:57.8 18,000m 1:58.9 208 1016 27 165
3:56.1 19,000m 1:58.0 213 1032 28 168
3:54.6 20,000m 1:57.3 217 1046 28 169
3:48.3 21,000m 1:54.1 235 1109 29 174
0:18.7 21,097m 1:36.3 391 1644 42 175
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by Paul Victory »

Great to see you back in the saddle, Mike. And those HM times are not at all shabby.

It's over a year since I last did any erging. I'm still suffering from lower back pain, but I think I might risk doing some gentle erging and see whether it improves or worsens matters.
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by strider77 »

Great SB Mike 👏.

Nice to hear from you Paul smile ☺

If an old fart like me can do it so can you my old mucka ! I'm rowing in the 2:30 to 2:40/500 range for anything more than about 5/10k slowly slowly catchee monkey !
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by Paul Victory »

Thanks Alan. Also nice to see you back on the erg.

I'm about to go out and do a slow 1k on the erg during half time in the Brentford Spurs match. [-o<
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by Iain »

Great row Mike. As I have been winding volume down amazed how much tiredness I had accumulated over the last 4 months, so you might find with a few days rest you could beat this again. But I suspect that doing an HM will be at the bottom of the list when you stop the CBs! WOudl be interesting to see how you fare against Hr SB 'though :twisted:
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by Mike Channin »

Great to hear from you, Paul. I am, in part, currently chasing the times you set in 2006, when you were a 53H, and I can tell you that I have a long way to go. Fingers crossed for your back, and fantastic to see you erging again..

Haha, Iain. You read my mind. My 1 hour SB is now looking soft, and an attempt on that is relatively easy to fit into a daily HM pattern, so that one has to be soon on the list, once I'm recovered from yesterday. (I have small matter of today's HM still to get over with, so off down the shed now...)
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by Mike Channin »

Iain wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2025 5:08 pm Great row Mike. As I have been winding volume down amazed how much tiredness I had accumulated over the last 4 months, so you might find with a few days rest you could beat this again.
I'm pretty sure I could do better now that I've done a full pace test. And yes, a proper rest for a few days would almost certainly help too. All that said, a full flat out HM might not be the smartest session at this point, as I'm pretty sure it would require a considerable recovery.
Interestingly, on the hard sessions I have done in the last week, I suddenly seem to be managing to recover pretty well, despite the background distances, and maybe even because of them - I seem to be on a sweet-spot, so I guess that Hour might be the next target...

Fingers crossed for your final preparations - looking forward to seeing you guys do your thing!
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by Iain »

Thanks Mike. Deffinitely into "Squeaky Bum" territory now!
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by Mike Channin »

Had done a couple of late night slow sessions since the HM SB. The first went pretty well. Last night's was a bit of a slog, and my knees were aching afterwards, so I nearly didn't go for a hard session today.

Managed to persuade myself to have a pace-test go at the 1 hour, with a stretch target of going for the SB.
The HM was giving a theoretical hour target of 15375 / 1:57.0, but that felt like a big jump in pace. Having checked my logbook from earlier in the season, I saw I'd been trying around that area then, but had fallen short a couple of times. (also noted I was rating much lower at that point too).

SB was 15261 /1:52.9, and my SB for the 2020/21 Season, which was my best recent was at 15311 / 1:52.6 (bit soft compared to other times that season, but another target, nonetheless).

So I set up the usual HM, pace-boat set to 1:57.6, provisional plan to go out at 1:57.0 and see how long I could hold that, then drop to 1:58, and if I was still in it, maybe sprint the end. Maybe a 15/30/15 1:57/1:58/1:57 to get 1:57.5 Av and that RB/SB.

Got going and initially managed to settle on 1:57.0, although I had the 'voice' telling me this was awfully fast and probably unsustainable. One amusing aspect of being set for HM was that I was seeing the Predicted time between 1:22:15 and 1:23 for much of this, even though I knew I wasn't ever going to try for it.

Managed to keep the rate a bit lower (25-26), but keep the power on. Got through 3k before I started to feel it a bit more, but kept on it to 4, and then held on to see 5k out. Had a good lead on the pace-boat (29m).

Now settled to 1:58, and managed to convince myself that this was 'taking it easy', which worked for a while. Found I was actually averaging around 1:57.8 per 1000, and a quick push towards the end of the interval got it down to 1:57.6, and so no distance lost to the pace boat.

Got all the way to 9k like this, then backed off just a bit more to make sure I was going to get to the hour.
The go/no-go point was 12k (~80%), but by then I already knew I was going to try to hang on to the gain I had at all costs.
12k to 1k out (~14.3k) was quite tough, but used the rate to keep the stroke flowing, and took hope from the fact that the HR was well within tolerances.

Got to 1k out, and started to pull for home, pulling in to 1:56, and then into the 1:55s.
2 mins left and pushed a bit more 1:53s now. 1 min and into the high 1:40s, then opened up for last 30s, and ended up getting down to 1:40.0 - came through the hour with 5,714m remaining, so 15,383m done, for a new SB.

Had to take a break to get my breath back, but then got going again, and pulled 2:20 to the end. Even with the break and the 2:20 pace for 5.7k, I still came in sub 1:28, which was kind of strange.

Very happy with another SB (although not one I can rank, owing to how it was done). Suspect this will take several days to get over, but as long as I've not done any damage, more than happy.
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by Iain »

Great row Mike =D> ^O^ =D> .

Pretty good estimate as 2M short of an even 1:57.0 split! Personally I would have set 1:00 and then reset whatever was needed for the HM "when taking the break", adding on the time of the break manually.
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by strider77 »

Well done Mike, great effort 👏!
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by Mike Channin »

Iain wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2025 4:20 pm Personally I would have set 1:00 and then reset whatever was needed for the HM "when taking the break", adding on the time of the break manually.
2 Reasons not to do this.

(1) The OCD thing that is happy with me logging an actual HM each day so far, so my logbook has a long list of certificates. :roll:
(2) It also means that I'll have to come back and do it again with 60mins set for a proper ranked piece :twisted:

Thanks, Alan. PS - keep an eye on the Meterboard... I'm closing back up...
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by Mike Channin »

Steady State tonight - was a bit cold so ended up doing ~2:17 pace while listening to the football.
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by Mike Channin »

Slow steady state again tonight. This time watching the football, which caused a number of spikes on the HRM.

Might have to set up a TV in the rowing shed…
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by Mike Channin »

Another steady state today; this time watching Netflix ('Bodies').
Was feeling a bit less energetic today, but that was probably a consequence of having done the CTC beforehand.
Family all seem to have a cold at the moment, and I've got a slightly sore throat, so I suspect I'll be taking it easier and not pushing my luck with any more SB's for a bit. This could be the first serious challenge to overcome. 9 HMs into the second CB...

Was also slightly odd rowing today, knowing that our brave tandem team were also in action at exactly the same time. Go Ian and Iain!!
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by Mike Channin »

Wasn’t looking forward to tonight’s session. Not feeling 100% health wise, gutted for the tandem attempt, and it was cold again tonight.
Watched the rugby on replay, and even knowing the result, it kept me distracted enough to get through another HM (number 40).
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by strider77 »

Well done getting it done Mike sounds like you've got my cold, I was coughing my guts up in the gym yesterday.

Easy one today no pulling up trees !
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by Mike Channin »

Another day, another HM. Watching the football today. Didn't go so well, as a Liverpool fan, but hats off to Plymouth for their deserved victory! Made a little more ground on Alan, but he's proving very hard to chase down...
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by Mike Channin »

Alan - check your logbook - I think you might have just completed a Crazy Bear! 30 HMs in 45 days....
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Re: The (Crazy) Bear is Back

Post by strider77 »

Hi Mike,

I checked and you're quite correct between 3rd January and 8th February I completed 28 x HM and 1 x FM

Cheers 👍
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